


The One Where There's Nothing Much To Do

by miss-minnelli (sherlollyshipperalltheway)



Series: The One Where There's Nothing Much to Do [1]
Category: Lovely Little Losers, Nothing Much to Do
Genre: AU, F/M, M/M, Other, friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2017-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-29 13:40:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6377896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlollyshipperalltheway/pseuds/miss-minnelli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Friends AU</p><p>Bea moves up to Auckland to live with her cousin Hero who has a hot date with a certain someone. Across the hall live Pedro, the all round great guy, and his sexually confused roommate, Balthazar. Meg seems to be in an unhealthy relationship, and Ben is sulking over years-old hurt. </p><p>(ps you can still totally read this without having seen Friends. It will still make sense.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The One Where Hero Gets a Roommate

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so this is still the same thing I posted the other day, but I deiced to make it a chaptered work instead of a series work. 
> 
> I have lots of ideas but not a lot of time, so we'll see what happens!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I do not own Friends or these characters, and I also borrowed a few lines from the Friends tv series.

When Hero’s alarm rang at seven o’clock sharp on Saturday morning, she practically bounced out of bed. “Today’s the day! Today’s the day!” she sang to herself. She twirled over to the kitchen and started her coffee pot. Then she skipped across the hall and opened the unlocked door to Balth and Pedro’s flat. “I’m getting a roommate today!” she shouted. 

 

“Shut up!” called Pedro’s groggy morning voice from his bedroom. Balthazar appeared in the doorway of the other bedroom and made a face at Hero.

 

“I’m making breakfast for everyone. It’ll be ready in an hour and Meg and Ben are coming over too,” she explained, hoping the mention of food would encourage the boys to wake up.  

 

It did. Sort of. Balth gave a thumbs up and went back to bed. Peter emerged from his room, but only for a moment. “Wake me up when there’s food.”

 

Hero rolled her eyes. What could she expect from two twenty-five year-old men? “Fine.” 

 

Truly, Hero didn’t mind cooking alone. In fact, she loved it. She hoped one day to run her own restaurant. At the moment, she was just working at a seafood restaurant down the street. It was fine though, for now.

 

Today was a particularly exciting day, as her cousin Beatrice was moving from Wellington to Auckland and was going to be her new roommate. The cousins had shared rooms as kids when they lived closer together, and Hero was excited to live with one of her best friends and have a nonstop sleepover.

 

While she scrambled eggs and fried bacon, Hero thought about the one thing that might make  today a little weird. She and Beatrice had gone to Messina High in Auckland, and so had Hero’s good friend Benedick. Beatrice and Benedick had been close in high school, but for some reason that was unclear to Hero, they had started hating each other right after they graduated. Whenever one was mentioned in the other’s presence, a snarky comment followed. Hero really hoped that Bea’s homecoming would not be ruined by Ben’s sarcasm and just general hatred for her cousin, and that Bea could contain her sass as well.

 

At around eight, as promised, Hero’s breakfast spread was complete, so she headed for the hallway to wake up Balth and Pedro. As soon as she stepped out the door, she saw Meg and Ben climbing up the stairs. “Good morning guys!” she called.

 

Meg groaned a little, but Ben waved cheerfully. He and Hero were both morning people, but Meg definitely wasn’t. “Go on in, breakfast is ready. I’ll be there in a second.” She barged into the boys’ flat and yelled, “Food’s ready!” As soon as she heard some movement from each room, she was satisfied and walked back to her (and soon to be Bea’s!) flat.

 

Ben and Meg had already started to dig in (although Meg seemed to be dozing on and off), so Hero joined them at the table and fixed herself a plate. She took a few bites in silence, but after a few moments, she looked up at Ben. “Listen, I know that you and Bea aren’t—”

 

“That’s right. We aren’t. That’s all. We aren’t friends and we aren’t anything else.”

 

That woke Meg up. Hero reached out a hand and patted Ben’s. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wanted to ask you to try and be civil today. I asked her to do the same. Do you think you could keep the arguing to a minimum?”

 

“What do you mean? How could we seriously have a record for arguing? I’ve seen her, what, ten times since high school. That’s seven years since we’ve seen each other for more than a week. What do you mean Hero? God.” he huffed.

 

“Um, even I know how badly you guys treat each other,” cut in Meg, “It’s all Hero talks about whenever she’s been around the two of you together.” Hero nodded in appreciation.

 

Ben hung his head a little. “Sorry Hero. I’ll try and be nice.”

 

Hero was about to say something else, but was interrupted by Balth and Pedro coming through the door, still wearing their pajamas. “Ah, the sleepy boys of apartment number twenty,” she teased, hoping to change the tone of the room.

 

When everyone was settled and munching on Hero’s delicious cooking, the chef spoke again. “Okay guys, so Bea is getting here at eleven and she cannot wait to meet all of you!”

 

“Hang on,” said Balth, “if she’s coming at eleven, then why are we up at this terribly early hour?”

 

“I second that,” agreed Pedro.

 

Hero gave them a look. “You two have a bit of a track record for taking absolutely forever to get ready in the morning, so I wanted to leave enough time so that everyone would be fully dressed by the time Bea gets here.”

 

Pedro and Balth nodded a little guiltily. “Okay, sorry,” they chorused.

 

~~~

 

It was eleven forty-five, and there was still no sign of or call from Beatrice. Hero was stress-cleaning the already spotless kitchen. “What if something happened to her? She’s not answering her phone,”

 

“It’s probably just off or dead,” suggested Pedro, petting Meg’s hair. She was curled up asleep on the couch with her head on Pedro’s knee. Balth was sitting in the chair across from the couch glaring in a vague sort of way that suggested he wasn’t aware of his facial expression. Ben was in the big armchair with some book about tiny birds from Hawaii. He seemed to be ignoring any mention of Beatrice. “Don’t worry. She’ll be here soon,” Pedro finished.

 

Sure enough, about a minute later there was an excited knock on the door. Hero threw down her washcloth and practically sprinted to the door and hurled it open. “BEATRICE!!!” she cried, wrapping her cousin into a huge hug. 

 

“Hero! It’s so good to see you! Oh wow, everybody’s here!” she exclaimed when Hero let go of her and dragged her into the flat.

 

“Yeah, this is everybody!” She pointed to the couch where Pedro and the now awake Meg were sitting. “This is Meg, she’s a writer and she lives across town, and next to her is Pedro, all round great guy. He’s an actor and he’s been on tv before! That over there is Balthazar and he’s a musician. He’s really good, Bea, wait until you hear him sing. And you remember Ben.” Everyone waved politely, except Ben, who nodded curtly and returned to his book.

 

“Hi guys! Ben.” Bea returned his nod and then turned to the others. “I’m so glad to finally meet all of you! Hero talks about you guys all the time. You two live across the hall, right?” Pedro and Balth nodded. “Cool! We can watch movies and stuff together!” 

 

Hero shot Ben a look when she saw him roll his eyes, and then she changed the subject. “Alright, is everyone ready to go out for lunch? I was thinking we could go to that cute little Indian place down the street?”

 

Everyone agreed and the group headed out. 

 

~~~

 

It was about seven blocks away, so on the walk over the group ended up separating into three sections, depending on how fast they walked. Hero, Bea, and Meg led the way, bouncing along as Meg and Bea got better acquainted. About ten meters behind them, Peter and Balth were walking a little more slowly, and even further behind them, Ben was walking alone and apparently sulking.

 

“So, Bea’s pretty cute, huh Balth?” remarked Pedro.

 

Balth cleared his throat. “Uh yeah, sure dude. She’s alright. Seems nice.”

 

“Come on, Balthy! She’s super pretty. Whenever I mention a gorgeous girl, you always just say she seems nice. What kind of girls _do_ you like?”

 

Balth coughed nervously and looked around. He noticed Ben walking behind him, looking down at the sidewalk. “Oh, um, hey Ben looks kinda sad back there. Hey Ben! Come walk with us!”

 

Ben looked up and did his best to wipe the dejected look off of his face. 

 

“Jesus, what’s your deal, Ben?” asked Peter.

 

“Nah, nothing man. I’m good.”

 

“Cool,” Peter replied.

 

Balth forgot his own embarrassment for a moment and noticed the way Ben seemed to be staring wistfully at Beatrice. He smiled when he realized what would cheer him up. “Hey, so I saw the coolest bird the other day.”

 

“Yeah?!”

 

~~~

 

A few hours later, the crew was finishing up their lunch (they had spent a lot of time talking). Hero looked at her watch. “Oh my gosh! I’ve got to go get ready for my date! Oh wait, Bea, I could stay home with you and help you unpack if you want.”

 

“No, go ahead, Hero! Who’s the mystery man?”

 

“Oh, he’s just this guy from work…”

 

Ben perked up. “Wait, is it Claudio the waiter? Did he finally ask you out?”

 

“Yeah, I’m pretty excited,” Hero replied. She really was excited. This was the first date she’d had in months that really seemed promising. Hero was pansexual, and she’d dated a few guys and girls and one non-binary person in the past few months, but none of the relationships ever went anywhere. She was really hoping this thing with Claudio would work out. 

 

The group got their cheques and ended up back at Hero and Bea’s place in about half and hour. 

 

Meg immediately flopped on the couch when they reached the flat. “Nut-Meg, why are you so tired today? You’ve been sleepy all day,” asked Ben as everybody else settled down on the floor or on chairs and Hero went to her room to get dressed.

 

Pedro picked up Meg’s legs from the couch and sat down, placing her legs in his lap. “She had a late night last night, didn’t you Meg?”

 

“Ugh, shut up, _Peter_.”

 

“Eww, please never call me Peter. Anyway, I believe his name is Robbie, am I right?”

 

“Wait, isn’t Robbie that guy that stood you up last week?” cut in Balth. “I don’t like that guy. He seemed mean. I thought you were happier when you were dating that girl, what was her name, Jenna?”

 

Meg turned her head towards the group and scrunched up her nose. “Nah, Jenna was nice, but she was kinda boring.”

 

Peter turned to Balth. “Hey, Meg says Jenna is nice. Isn’t that what you look for in girls? Maybe you should as her out,” he teased. 

 

Balth let out a quiet, frustrated noise. “Pretty sure she’s a lesbian, Pedro.” He stood up. “I gotta go.” With that, he walked back to his and Pedro’s flat. 

 

“What’s up with Balth?” asked Hero, coming out of her room when she heard the front door shut.

 

“Oh, he’s fine, Hero. Dunno what’s got him all twisted up, but I’m sure he’ll get over it,” answered Peter.

 

Hero frowned. “I’m going to do talk to him.” 

 

When Hero left, Meg seemed to have fallen asleep and Peter was engrossed with something on his phone, so Beatrice and Benedick found themselves practically alone for the first time in a few years. 

 

A few awkward moments passed, and Bea stood up suddenly. “Well, I’m going to go unpack,” she said, and dashed off to her room. 

 

~~~

 

Twenty minutes later, Hero and a now smiling Balthazar came back to the flat and Hero went to touch up her makeup. Pedro shot Balth a concerned look, but he shook his head to tell Pedro that he was fine. 

 

“Hey Balth, Pedro, you want to go get that couch now?” Ben asked. He had picked out a new couch for his flat yesterday, but he needed a few people to help him carry it up to his apartment and Balth and Pedro had promised they would be those people. They nodded in agreement and started to get up. “Hey, Meg, you can come help too if you like.”

 

Meg looked up. “Oh, I wish I could. But I don’t want to.” 

 

Ben snorted. “Fair enough. See you later Megs. Have a good date, Hero!” he called.

 

“Thank you!” came a slightly muffled voice.

 

Balth stopped before he approached the door. “Hold on, I wanted to say goodnight to Beatrice.”

 

“Oh yeah, me too,” said Peter. “Ben, you coming?” he gestured towards Bea’s new bedroom where she was still unpacking. 

 

“Nah, she won’t want to see me. You guys go ahead.”

 

~~~

 

At about nine p.m. Bea had finally finished unpacking and was sitting on the couch with a pint of ice cream watching _The Breakfast Club_. This wasn’t really what she had imagined it would be like to have five best friends. She had imagined it would be like one big slumber party all the time, but everybody was busy. Hero was still out with Claudio, Meg had gotten a call from Robbie at some point and disappeared, and the guys were over at Ben’s. 

 

That was the other thing. She wished she didn’t have to be around Ben so much. She kind of wanted to blame Hero for staying friends with him after high school, but Hero was so sweet that she just couldn’t. 

 

A really small part of Beatrice wished that she and Ben hadn’t started hating each other right after they graduated, but the rest of her knew that it was totally justified. He had been a total dick. They’d only seen each other about ten times in the last seven years, and for that she was grateful. Whenever they saw each other, they argued for hours, kind of like old times, but now she really meant all of the insults she used to mean jokingly. She kind of hated herself for enjoying the arguments because she kept having to remind herself that this wasn’t like high school. There wasn’t now (and apparently there never was) any possibility of having a relationship with Mr. Commitment-Phobe, and she had to keep reminding herself that. Of course, it was all subconscious. She refused to admit to herself that she had ever had romantic feelings for Ben the dick.

 

Just like across town, Balthazar was refusing to admit to himself how attractive he found Pedro. He didn’t like guys. He liked women…Nice women…But he couldn’t seem to stop staring at the way Pedro’s hair kept falling over his face whenever he laughed at one of Ben’s stupid jokes. 

 

~~~

 

When Hero arrived home from her date, she was beaming widely, but she kept quiet when she saw that Beatrice had fallen asleep on the couch. She covered her cousin with a blanket and whispered, “See you in the morning, roomie.”


	2. The One Where Meg Sleeps in the Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh hey I'm back with this one!

 

“Oi, Bea, so what made you want to move back here to Auckland? Hero said you were living in America, right?” asked Pedro, shoveling a spoonful of of cereal into his mouth. 

 

Bea winced. This was a subject she had been trying to avoid because it meant talking about her failed engagement. “Yeah, I um, my fiancé decided he didn’t want to marry me. So I thought I’d come home and start over, ya know?”

 

“And we’re so happy to have you!” called Hero over the sound of her running dishwater, effectively ending that conversation. 

 

Pedro, Balth, Bea, and Hero were finishing up breakfast on Sunday, Bea’s second day in the flat. Pedro and Bea were sitting across from each other at the kitchen table, Hero was washing dishes, and thanks to the open floor plan of the flat, Balth was able to perch on the back of the couch, strumming on his guitar, and still join in the conversation every now and then. 

 

“Thanks, cuz,” Bea said with a smile. “It feels good to be here, taking a break from men. I don’t need a boyfriend to be happy.”

 

Just then, the door to the apartment burst open to reveal a grinning Benedick. “Guess who just finished putting up his new posters? This guy!” he declared, pointing his thumb at himself. 

 

“Ooh, the Harry Potter ones?” asked Hero?

 

Bea let out a seemingly involuntary snort. 

 

“Sorry, do you have some kind of problem with Harry Potter?” asked Ben in a semi-serious tone.

 

“No, I mean I loved it when I was _fifteen_ , but I would’ve thought you were a little old for it now, at twenty-five.”

 

“Well, I guess you don’t know much about me anymore, Beatrice,” he said, and everyone could see the words cut through Bea’s hard outer shell.

 

She sucked in her cheeks, but said nothing. Everyone else looked afraid to speak, but after a couple of awkward moments, Hero changed the subject.

 

“Hey Balthy, when is your next gig?”

 

Balth usually didn’t love talking about himself, but he hated uncomfortable situations even more. “Well, I’m playing for tips tomorrow evening downstairs at Boyet’s. You guys are welcome to come if you’d like.”

 

“We wouldn’t miss it, man,” says Pedro with a supportive smile. Balth perks up even more at this. 

 

“Cool, well I’m actually supposed to start work in—” he looked at his watch, “five minutes, so I’d better get down there.”

 

“See you later, bud!”

 

“Bye, Balthy!”

 

“Have a good shift.” 

 

After Balth had exited with a wave, Hero saw Bea’s crinkled brow. Balthazar works as a barista at the coffee shop downstairs, Boyet’s Beans. He also plays gigs there pretty often.” 

 

“It’s just a stepping stone, he’s going to be a superstar one of these days,” added Pedro proudly. 

 

Hero placed the last spoon gently in the dish rack. “Does anybody know where Meg is this morning? She asked me yesterday about borrowing a pair of my shoes for a date tonight.”

 

“She’s at church,” answered Pedro. 

 

Ben coughed. “What? Isn’t she always talking about how much she hates organized religion? I mean, she refused to go to Jake and Harriet’s wedding because it was _in_ a church. It wasn’t even a religious wedding, it was just a nice venue!”’

 

Pedro smirked. “Yeah, that’s all true. What Meg calls church is her Sunday morning ‘meditation’ in the park, which usually just means she’s taking a nap in the grass. I’ll give her a call at about eleven so she doesn’t spend the entire day asleep under a park bench.”

 

“Ah,” nodded Ben in understanding. 

 

Bea looked bewildered and impressed, but Hero didn’t even bat an eyelash as if what Pedro had said was a perfectly normal explanation for Meg’s whereabouts. 

 

Hero dried her hands on a dish towel and untied her apron—yes she was wearing an apron to wash dishes—and hung it on a hook next to the fridge. Hero liked quant details like aprons, plus she was going out with Claudio that afternoon and she wanted to keep her pale pink, flowy dress dry and clean. Her date wasn’t until three—she and Claudio were going to a late lunch and then a movie ( _Finding Dory_ )—so she smoothed out her dress, grabbed a book off the end table by the couch, and settled in the big chair to read. 

 

Meanwhile, Pedro had asked Ben if he’d seen the latest episode of Game of Thrones, and somehow the simple question had turned into a full blown argument between Bea and Ben about their favorite character.

 

“The best character is _totally_ Tyrion,” declared Ben. 

 

Bea rolled her eyes. “No, it’s definitely Arya. I mean she’s so badass. She defeats all gender stereotypes.”

 

“Tyrion defies stereotypes about height!”

 

“Arya doesn’t need men to be amazing!”

 

Tyrion is played by Peter Dinklage, who is literally the best!!!”

 

“MAISIE WILLIAMS. That is all.”

 

Ben shruged good naturedly. “Yeah, she is pretty cool. I’ll give you that much.”

 

“Wait, is Benedick Hobbes giving up on an argument? This is a historical event. And, it also means that I have won, and that calls for a victory lap.” Bea got up from the table, picked up an imaginary flag and jogged around the flat in a circle, waving to all of her imaginary fans. Ben rolled his eyes, but Pedro wasn’t paying attention anymore. Instead he was reading something on his phone. Hero gave Bea an encouraging nod and Ben a shrug and an eyebrow raise, but she said nothing. 

 

When Bea realized that no one else had been paying attention to the argument, she felt a little silly, but she completed her lap all the same. 

 

Ben kept smiling. Bea had sat back down at the table and taken a long sip of her left over orange juice, and Ben just kept smiling at her. It was very unnerving and she didn’t like his staring. 

 

Suddenly, she jumped up out of her seat and half-shouted, “Well, I’ve got to go. I promised I’d…well, it doesn’t matter.” As soon as her shoes were on, Bea was out the door in two seconds flat, leaving Ben looking crushed and confused, and Hero giving an exaggerated sigh. 

 

Pedro didn’t even seem to be aware that there had been an argument. He looked up from his phone and said, “Meg just texted me. She just woke up, and apparently there is a squirrel taking a nap on her stomach in the park. I think she just wants a ride home, though, cause I’ve never seen a squirrel around here. Anyway, I’m going to make sure our queen isn’t perishing by way of a fluffy rodent. See you guys later.”

 

Ben panicked. Shit. Now he was alone with a girl who was basically a mind reader. Hero had seen the way he’d looked at Bea as she was making her victory lap. Ben stood up and tried to make an excuse to get out of the flat, but Hero was quick to put herself between him and the door. 

 

“Uh-uh. You’re not getting away that easily. Come on, Ben. We used to talk about this all the time. I know you still love her.”

 

“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hero. And if you don’t mind I wish you’d never mention it again, because clearly Bea isn’t interested. I have to go.”

 

He tried to get around Hero to get out the door, but she lunged at him before he could, wrapping him in a tight hug. “I’m here for you, buddy, okay?”

 

Ben let himself melt into the hug. He was really grateful that she wasn’t pushing this. “Thanks, Hero.” 

 

When she let him go, Ben asked, “Would you mind if I hung around here until you have to get ready for your date?”

 

“Of course not. Ooh! We should play Scrabble.”

 

“How about Scrabble, but with a twist: you can only use bird names!”

 

Hero smiled and rolled her eyes. “Allllright, you’re on.”


	3. The One Where Bea Gets a Job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol it's been a while but i've been working on this sporadically and i really wanted to post this today so heeeeeere ya go.

As soon as Ben stepped into Bea and Hero’s flat on Saturday, two weeks later, he could sense that something was off. “Hey, why does everyone look so mopey?” he asked as he closed the door. Ben walked over to the couch and took a better look at everyone’s faces. Then, they all started talking at once.

“Claudio didn’t call when he said he would.” “I need a job.” “Robbie is a fuckwad.” “I can’t seem to land an audition.” “There’s a chord missing from this song, but I can’t find it.”

“Oh my gosh, slow down people. I cannot work my magic if you are all talking at the same time,” said Ben, shaking his head.

Pedro smirked. “Magic? You’re an ornithologist.”

“Well, I happen to find birds quite magical. Anyway, Pedro, you can go first. Why are you sulking?”

He gave Ben a look, but continued anyway. “Okay, well I can’t get an audition anywhere good, which means I can’t get a job, so I can’t pay rent or eat.”

“Hey!” said Meg before Ben could reply, “My friend Jacquie knows a guy who is producing Faustus across town. I bet she could get you an audition.”

“Meg! That would be sweet! Thanks, babe, you’re the best!” exclaimed Pedro.

Balth balled up the corner of his shirt in his fist and muttered something to himself that sounded suspiciously like “Oh, are you two dating now?”

“Okay, great. That’s one problem down, who’s next?” asked Ben.

“Me!” said Hero. “Claudio didn’t call when he said he would today.”

“When did he say he’d call?” asked Meg.

Hero pouted slightly. “Two. And it’s like, six-thirty now, so I’m a little annoyed.”

“Ummmm, I might know something about that,” said Ben, guiltily. Hero raised her eyebrows and he continued. “Well, remember when you introduced him to all of us last weekend? Well, we’ve been going to some pick-up football games, and we were there around lunch time, so I guess he was a little distracted. And then I left before he did, so he might even still be there.”

The blonde girl rolled her eyes. “Ben! Can you please not steal my boyfriend?” 

Ben smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, Hero. But I gotta say, it’s not my fault he didn’t remember to call you.” 

“True, true. Oh well, I’ll ring him this evening. Anyway, who’s next? Bea?”

“Sure,” replied her cousin. “I need a job. Like right now. But I can’t find one. I’ve tried grocery stores and restaurants, but no one’s hiring.”

Balth looked up from his song-writing notebook. “I could get you a job at Boyet’s downstairs. They’re looking for waitresses.”

“Oh my god, thank you Balth! That would be awesome. Okay. I’m good, so next person?”

“My turn!” shouted Meg. “Robbie is an actual fucking fuckwad,” she complains.

Ben narrowed his eyes. “What the that idiot do this time?” he asked, and there was more than a hint of annoyance in his voice. 

“He stood me up again.” 

Hero sounded concerned when she spoke up. “Meg, isn’t that the third time this month? I don’t think this is heathy.”

“Nah, probably not,” said Meg, shrugging, “I should break it off, shouldn’t I?” Everyone nodded vigorously. “Okay, I’ll go call him now. At this point he doesn’t even deserve to be dumped in person. Thanks you guys.” Then she got up and dashed out of the apartment to the stairwell where they somehow got better reception. 

“Is that everyone? Have I magically solved all the problems in this flat?” asked Ben.

Pedro cleared his throat. “Um, no. Don’t forget about Balthy.”

“Ah yes, Balthy. How may I magically help you today, young padawan?”

“Well, I’ve got this chord missing from my new song, but honestly no one can write my song but me, so what I really need is a distraction, and I guess I’ve got one. That is, if Bea, do you want to go talk to Fred downstairs about that job right now?”

“Sounds great! And thank you again!” said Bea enthusiastically. “Let’s go!” 

“Wait!” Hero called before her friends had left, “Are we all still on for dinner tonight? I have a new tomato sauce recipe I want to try out.”

“You got it!” said Bea with a big smile. “C’mon, Balthy” She pulled Balth out the door, but he managed to wave before he was dragged out into the hallway. 

Pedro got up as well. “I’m going to go see how Meg is doing, and maybe see if she can get me in to talk to her director today. I’ll see you at dinner, Hero”

“Bye!” said Hero, excited by the prospect of her new tomato sauce recipe and having a distraction from Claudio. 

Now, only Ben and Hero were sat in the flat living room, and they were both enjoying the peaceful silence. That is, until they both started thinking of the Bea and Claudio, respectively. 

“What do you say we take a walk over to the farmer’s market downtown? I really want to have fresh tomatoes for my sauce tonight,” asked Hero.

Ben beams. He absolutely adores the farmer’s market. Not only is it near one of the best parks to find interesting birds in Auckland, but they have the most amazing kettle corn at the popcorn booth on the end. “I’m in!” 

~~~

Downstairs, Bea and Balth were talking to the owner of Boyet’s, Fred. 

“So, you’re new in town?” asked Fred, leaning against the counter, absentmindedly pushing around an empty paper cup. 

Bea nodded, trying not to get distracted by the ever-moving paper cup on the counter. “Sort of. I went to high school here, but then I moved to America for a while. And now I’m…back.”

“Cool, cool. Thanks for introducing us, Balthazar. I think I can take it from here. Why don’t you grab yourself a coffee for your trouble.” 

“Oh, sure. You got it. Thanks.” 

Fred led Bea to a table in the very corner of the coffee house and motioned for her to sit down. 

“Tell me about yourself, Bea. Why do you want this job?”

Bea thankfully stopped herself from blurting out, “I don’t so much want this job, I just want ANY job.” 

Instead she managed make herself sound like a great employee. In fact, she was a great employee, just she didn’t generally work in coffee shops. She was used to working as a in the law library of her school while she got her law degree in New York. The problem was, no one seemed to be hiring lawyers with no experience in Auckland, a city practically eight times smaller than New York. 

After several minutes of conversation and questions, Fred seemed satisfied that Bea would make a suitable waitress. “You’ve got the job,” he said, stretching out his hand toward Bea.

She shook it and smiled gratefully. “Thank you very much. When would you like me to start my first shift?”

Fred looked down at his phone calendar for a second and then back at Bea. “It looks like Caleb had to back out of his shift tonight, so if you could come in from seven-thirty to closing time at ten, that would be great.”

“Sure thing!” 

After the interview, Bea checked her phone and saw a text from Balth that read: Hey, hope it goes well. I’m at the bookstore across the street. idk I didn’t want to seem like i was creeping. come on over when you’re done!

As Bea headed across the street, she smiled bigger than she had since arriving back in New Zealand. Finally, something was going right for her again.


End file.
